Heartstrings
by Haruko-Mizumi
Summary: While lounging in the Fire Nation palace, Katara and Zuko have some confessions to make. Written for Zutara Week 2012. Post series.


Zutara Week Day Five: Heartstrings

My last fic for Zutara week, since I'm going out of town and won't have access to a computer. It's been challenging and fun!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

**Heartstrings**

Zuko and Katara hadn't always been close, starting as enemies, then beginning to understand each other, only to have Zuko betray her, then entering uneasy alliance, and finally, a deep friendship that surpassed any friendships they had had before.

This meant they had the deepest of affections for each other, and spent a lot of time together after the war, discussing things they felt they couldn't share with anyone else, because they felt that nobody else understood them better. Of course they still felt a close connection to the rest of the group, but there was something that tied them especially close together.

The group would visit Zuko often, but Katara most often of all, sometimes coming by herself to spend a weekend in the palace.

This was one of her solo visits. Whenever Zuko wasn't busy with various details that came with ruling a country, they would take walks in the garden together, discuss issues of importance over a cup of tea (usually brewed by Zuko himself), or spend quite time in the library, reading scrolls silently in each other's company.

One fairly warm summer day, while sitting on a shaded porch overlooking the garden, Zuko and Katara sat talking, wearing casual Fire Nation style clothing, having shed their elegant traditional attire in light of the heat, in chairs so close to one another that they could reach over and touch each other.

"Do you remember that day when you and Aang almost burnt down the house on Ember Island?" Katara asked with a laugh.

"In my defense, I told him it was too windy to firebend that day, but he wanted to practice, and I figured somebody should keep an eye on him." Zuko replied, a smile tugging at his lips nonetheless. "It was a good thing we had a master waterbender around."

"Master waterbender, and the only one who could cook."

"I can cook!"

"You could make tea Zuko, that's not the same as an edible meal." Katara said.

"What do you expect? I'd always had that done for me."

"No wonder you were hopeless."

"I was there to teach firebending, not to cook."

Katara gave up teasing Zuko, a playful smile gracing her features as she gazed out into the garden. "We had some really good times."

"Yeah. We did." Zuko agreed, following her gaze.

Katara's eyes fell to her lap, where she had her hands folded together. "You know, I've never told you how glad your friendship has made me."

"To be honest, I never thought I'd hear you of all people say that." Zuko replied, turning his golden eyes back to her.

"A few years ago, I never would have thought it either. But you really have more than made up for everything." Katara's eyes flashed to Zuko's bare chest, where the dull red scar his own sister had given him, the scar he had taken saving Katara's life, stood out against his pale skin.

"That's all I wanted really, to have you all forgive me. I never really expected to be accepted as a friend by any of you."

"I don't think any of us even thought we would ever come to see you as a friend, even after you became Aang's firebending teacher. But look what you did for us. You helped Sokka rescue Suki and my dad, you helped me overcome my anger about my mom's death, you saved my life, and you left behind everything you'd ever known to do it. I have so much respect for you for that." Katara said.

"I expected you to say that even less."

"I've just really come to care about you." Katara was blushing now, but felt the need to finish what she had started saying.

Zuko, now smiling softly, reached over and took her hand. "I really care about you too."

Katara leaned to the side and kissed Zuko tenderly on the cheek. "I mean _really_ come to care about you."

Zuko eyes widened a bit, as he understood the full meaning of what Katara was telling him. After his moment of slight initial shock, he captured her lips gently. "I'd say I've _really_ come to care about you too."

And the rest of their day was spent expressing amounts of affection that would have made Sokka very unhappy.

**End**


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